Child health is on the line as Codex deliberates food standards

Abstract

Introduction by Croakey: An investigation published last week by the British Medical Journal has found that infant formula manufacturers have been funding the development of guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of cows' milk allergy as well as providing research and consultancy funds to those who wrote them.

That comes, it reports, amid a six-fold increase in sales of infant formula prescribed for babies with cows' milk protein allergy in the United Kingdom from 2006 to 2016, despite no evidence of a concurrent increase in the prevalence of infants with the allergy.

In this timely Croakey #LongRead below, Dr Julie Smith, Alex Iellamo, and Dr Phillip Baker report on how upcoming deliberations by the international Codex Alimentarius (Codex) Commission will shape global and national regulation and marketing of commercial baby food products for decades to come. They detail the massive market inroads that industry has made in recent decades with commercial milk formulas, and the concurrent risks to breastfeeding rates and baby health, and warn that Australia's position is at risk of too much industry influence, again.